All posts tagged Qantas

Already the world’s largest carrier by international passenger traffic, the global reach of Emirates was further extended Thursday, with the Gulf airline striking a 10-year partnership with Qantas Airways.

The deal will give the Middle East airline access to over 50 destinations in Australia, while struggling Qantas has a new best friend in the unlikely shape of its former enemy.

The damaged engine of a Qantas Airways A380 passenger plane flight QF32 after it was forced to make an emergency landing in Singapore in this November 4, 2010

Rolls-Royce Group is still doing its best to dodge flak.

A month after the blowout of a Trent 900 engine powering an Airbus A380 superjumbo operated by Australia’s Qantas, Rolls-Royce, a bastion of British industry and a major exporter, is bracing itself for the preliminary findings of a probe into the incident conducted by the Australian Transport and Safety Bureau.

Those findings are due to be made public Friday. The ATSB Thursday pre-empted its own report, highlighting a manufacturing defect with an oil tube connection on some Trent 900 engines that could cause oil leakage, cracking and possible engine failure from an oil fire.

Whatever fresh details are revealed Friday, it is unlikely to be good news for Derby-based Rolls-Royce, whose share price has been on a rollercoaster ride ever since the A380 made its emergency landing in Singapore Nov. 4.

Despite the recent furore, there are two groups who haven’t gotten carried away by the frenzy of headlines about Rolls-Royce’s troubles: aviation industry insiders and investors.

These people understand the risks of producing, operating and maintaining enormously complex technical systems. They know that problems can arise at any time, and they know that high-quality manufacturers like Rolls-Royce will find solutions.

Rolls-Royce is far from alone. Airbus, a unit of EADS, encountered massive headaches in the development of the A380, which entered service only in 2007. EADS has had other setbacks in getting its long-delayed A400M military-airlifter off the ground.

On the other side of the Atlantic, Boeing is encountering its own difficulties with the development of the 787 Dreamliner, which has suffered similar high-profile problems.

There is no suggestion that Airbus and Boeing won’t find the answers. Maybe observers need to show a little more faith in Rolls-Royce?

The failure of one of its engines on a high-profile Airbus A380 super-jumbo jet last Thursday was a huge embarrassment for this bastion of British industry and a major exporter. A second issue a day later involving a different type of engine on a Boeing (BA) 747 aircraft possibly would have gone unnoticed but for the first incident.

Together, the two problems have inflicted serious damage to Rolls-Royce’s image. In each case, the plane concerned was operated by Australian carrier Qantas, which has been quick to ground its A380 fleet and point the finger of blame at Rolls-Royce.

The Volcanic ash cloud that has shuttered most of the airspace above northern and central Europe is continuing to cause chaos across the world for a fifth consecutive day. The situation is fast moving, especially now Europe’s politicians are finally starting to wake up to the crisis.

Here’s a summary of key developments:

European Union transport ministers will meet Monday afternoon in emergency session to discuss measures to reduce the mounting losses on businesses and the economy. They are set to discuss test flights undertaken by several European airlines over the weekend that showed no damage to aircraft

European Union officials have now started commenting on the crisis, but no consensus has been reach.

Some say airlines could be due compensation but others say it’s premature to discuss the issue. Airlines have joined together to ask for compensation.

Airline officials are continuing to slam law makers for being slow to react to the crisis and coordinate. They also say authorities have overreacted by closing vast swathes of airspace without detailed analysis of atmospheric conditions and the dangers posed.

Peter Hartman, chief executive of Air France-KLM’s Dutch KLM airline, said he thought it would be completely safe to operate flights during daylight hours after the airline successfully completed a number of test flights with no passengers Sunday, and flew two commercial cargo flights overnight to the Middle East and Asia.